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Background: In western Canada, Manitoba is a critical hub for a large population of migrant workers. Usually with limited English or French language ability and possessing limited rights and protections under the current TFWP, Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are often tied to a single employer, leaving them vulnerable to employer abuse and the under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses due to the threat of deportation. Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when my dissertation research began, the many cases seen among TFWs in Manitoba raises additional important public health questions on the health and wellbeing of migrant workers in Manitoba that I discuss in this dissertation. Methodology: In close collaboration with Migrante Manitoba (MB), I conducted a qualitative study to explore the precarious lives of migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. I virtually interviewed 20 migrant workers who entered Canada through the TFWP, employed either as seasonal agricultural workers (n=7) or TFWs (n=13). Thirteen TFWs came from Philippines and seven farmworkers from Mexico (n=6) and Jamaica (n=1). Theoretical contribution: I developed the notion of transnational circuits of precarity to understand the multiple temporal-spatial layers of precarity that migrant workers encounter along their journeys to Manitoba. This multivalent concept is comprised of the following interconnected pieces: 1) a broader political economic “force-field” that compels the movement of human labour resources from the global South to the global North; 2) the rigid and regulated pathway put in place to ensure workers arrival at their work destinations; 3) the process of making “model minorities” through training programs that ensure the “smooth” transition of workers in their host country; and 4) the affective economy that is fueled by workers’ hopes, dreams, and desires. Altogether, these seemingly disparate processes articulate to produce complex temporal and spatial realities that shape the precarious trajectories of migrant workers. Such a paradigm shift away from the narrow temporal and spatial limits of a focus on “occupational health hazards” will be critical if workers are to realize any meaningful and substantive changes to their overall physical and mental well-being.
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The following thesis examines the complex reality of temporary migration within Canada's agricultural sector by investigating the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). The relevance of this inquiry hosts far-reaching implications for not only the wellbeing of migrant workers, but for the Canadian food-system, as well as migrant sending states. Furthermore, this research contributes additional knowledge and insights regarding the evolving interconnections between the climate and migration crisis that host critical impacts for Canada and the world moreover. In analyzing the impact of the SAWP on migrant workers' lives through two case studies, the project explores the interplay between climate change, globalization, neoliberalism, and liberalization in shaping the precarity faced by migrant workers in Canada. Despite the commonly advertised benefits of the SAWP, the study finds that structural barriers and power imbalances limit the realization of these benefits for migrant workers. The study ultimately explores the divided calls for reform across the sector, revealing the influence of widespread industry malpractice, and the presence of entrenched power hierarchies that have served to dominate the scope and direction of change. The research finds that the SAWP's structure and the broader context of inequalities related to globalization and neoliberalism hinder migrant workers' ability to leverage their assets and improve their livelihoods in Canada.
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The following thesis paper examines the continued presence of antisemitism in the ruling Alberta Social Credit Party (SCP) between 1943 and 1968, and Canadian Jewish organizational efforts to obtain anti-discrimination legislation. The Alberta Social Credit grassroots movement involved radical monetary policies, religious fundamentalism, conspiracy theories and antisemitic rhetoric. How did such an unorthodox party retain provincial control for thirty-six years despite the organization's persistent antisemitism? The question is significant to the ongoing narrative of Alberta politics amid a sharp rise in antisemitism within Canada today. The principal methodology includes qualitative research of primary sources from the SCP and Canadian Jewish archives and academic literature. Within this study period, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) transitioned from an organization with little infrastructure to a leading institution with strong ties to other Canadian Jewish bodies, and labour and civil groups, struggling to enshrine protections for Canadian Jews. The results demonstrate that in the 1950s and early 1960s, as many Canadian provincial governments enacted equal rights legislation, Premier Ernest Manning's Social Credit government resisted such laws in Alberta. As a result, Jewish leaders escalated initiatives in Alberta. Throughout his leadership, Manning routinely denied accusations of antisemitism leveled against his party. Eventually, Manning and the Alberta SCP government were forced to establish human rights legislation in 1966, although the provisions were limited in scope. Manning curtailed Social Credit antisemitism when it became a political liability, but he did not comprehensively eliminate it. Through collaborative efforts, the CJC and other Canadian Jewish groups finally achieved legalized protections for the Jewish community in Alberta.